Donald McHatten
Special Education Visalia Program Director
Visalia Center
Telephone: 559-622-9958, ext. 2511
Fax: 559-622-8958
Email: donald.mchatten@fresno.edu
What programs do you teach in?
- I teach in the special education graduate program in the School of Education.
Education
- B.S., California State University, Fresno
- M.A., education, California State University, Fresno
Scholarly interests
- Laws and ethics related to individuals with exceptional needs
- The sanctity of human life
- Stewardship
Honors and awards
- Letters and cards of appreciation from parents and teachers
- Teachers Honor Wall, California State University, Fresno
- Honorable Discharge, U.S. Marine Corps, 1963
Professional experiences
- I have been blessed by having been chosen to be the lead teacher of three State of California education pilot programs. The first was to plan and teach in a public education class for children with severe disabilities of kindergarten age and younger. The next program became the forerunner of what is now known throughout California as the Adult Transition Program(ATP). Several ATP classes and their college-age students are now housed on the Fresno Pacific University campus. Much younger children, ages 3 to 5—with autistic spectrum disorders—became the last among these adventurous opportunities to explore possibilities of teaching that had not been tried before. The four years as principal and director of the Fresno County Juvenile Court School Programs was the Lord’s way of enhancing my belief in the sanctity of life. The accomplishments in those years became a model of the miraculous ways in which God entrusts us to do His work.
Personal experiences
- If ever a case in public education called for “necessity becoming the mother of invention” Proposition 13 will suffice. Overnight, our public school special education program became poor. Thus, the Disabled Children’s Foundation was born. We held fund-raisers: Pig-Bowls in which—Fresno cops vs. Oakland cops—played football to benefit mentally retarded children. We had bowling, golf and tennis tournaments, and we also engaged in a fashion show & dinner at Roger Rocka’s Theater. With funds raised we purchased vehicles and much more resulting in enriched experiences for our students. Once again during my career, the hand of God reconciled people who otherwise would not have worked closely with one-another and the resulting social justice demonstrated to all among us the power of hard work and prayer.
Other information
- I thank God every day for students. They bless us with their knowledge; they remind us of how it feels to be eager and smart and able to do good work. At the end of the day, our students are gifts sent among us to change the world in which we live.
